This invention relates generally to the area of fishing lures, and more specifically, to enabling a fishing lure to move in a manner that realistically approximates the motion of a swimming fish and therefore enhances its ability to attract and catch real fish.
Fishing is a very popular pastime in the Unites States and throughout the world. Fishermen (and women) are always searching lo for a way to gain an extra advantage in attracting and catching fish. One of the key components of fishing equipment that affects the ability to attract and catch fish is the lure. There are of course many varieties, shapes, sizes and configurations of fishing lure with varying weight balances according to the type of fish being pursued and the conditions under which the fishing is to occur.
Some of these lures utilize a so-called xe2x80x9ccrankbait.xe2x80x9d This is essentially a solid body composed, for example, of wood, plastic, light metal, and/or plastics mixed with other components. It is fashioned into the general shape of a fish, and is often colored and otherwise given surface design characteristics that make it closely resemble a fish. The object, of course, is to fool a real fish into believing that the crankbait, when moving through the water under tow from the fishing line, is in fact another fish. Thus, ideally, the fish will follow the crankbait and bite onto one or more hooks typically attached to the crankbait.
Other lures often employ a so-called xe2x80x9cspinner,xe2x80x9d or, alternatively, xe2x80x9cspoon.xe2x80x9d A spinner, like a crankbait, is designed generally to appear like a fish. However, the spinner has a fairly flat, blade-like (or spoon-like) configuration, and is attached to the lure in such a manner that when moved through the water, it will actually spin in a manner well known in the art. The spinning of the spinner, and the reflection of light off of the spinner while it spins, causes the fish to see a flashing object generally shaped like a fish, hopefully to pursue that object, and again, to bite.
The prior art is indeed crowded with all sorts of lure configurations, each designed to provide some particular advantage to the fisherman who employs it.
Much of the prior art employing solid body members such as a crankbait, combines the crankbait with two fishing hooks attached thereto and suspended therefrom. Thus, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,229,899; 4,402,155; 4,445,294; 4,733,491; 4,739,576; 4,999,942; 5,042,189; 5,182,875; 5,301,453; 5,369,906; 5,600,916; and 5,638,631; as well as, for example, U.S. Design Patents D247,304; D250,655; D254,026; D270,176; and D 296,811 can each be commonly characterized as a fishing lure comprising a solid body with two fishing hooks suspended from the solid body. Generally, one hook (a rear hook) is located at the rear of the body with respect to the location where the fishing line is attached, while the other hook (a front hook) is located somewhere in the midsection of the body. However, in all of these cases, there is nothing to impart the body with a xe2x80x9cswimmingxe2x80x9d movement that would cause it to more closely resemble a live, swimming fish, and therefore to attract live fish who are misled into believing that the body is itself a real fish. It is to be noted that none of these configurations includes or suggests a spinner element.
Other prior art, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,432,156; 4,495,722; 204,581,841; 4,796,379; 5,119,581; 5,175,955; 5,197,221; and 5,381,623 can each be commonly characterized as a fishing lure comprising a solid body with a single fishing hook attached to and suspended from the solid body, generally near the rear of the body. While these patents are generally designed to provide some form of motion to the body, this motion is awkwardly-imparted by some element that is unique to the particular body, rather than by a modular element that is commonly available to all fishermen as standard fishing equipment. And, it appears that the motion of these lures can certainly be improved upon. It is to be noted once again, that none of these configurations includes or suggests a spinner element.
Spinners, on the other hand, are typically attached directly to a rigid spindle attached to the fishing line, with the fishing hook placed several inches behind the spinner and attached to the same spindle, and perhaps, with some intervening elements. Thus, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,617,753; 4,860,486; 5,133,147; 5,412,899; 5,412,901; and 5,647,163 can commonly be characterized as fishing lures comprising a spindle with a spinner attached to a forward section of the spindle and a hook attached to an end section of the spindle. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,121,366; 4,163,338; 4,730,410; 4,823,500; 4,998,371; 5,394,636 and 5,595,015 are similarly characterized, but also appear to contain one or more additional elements attached to the spindle between the spinner and the hook. In this configuration, the spinner is located in such a position that it has little if any impact on the overall motion of the lure, and certainly, for those patents with additional elements, the spinner is not directly attached to those elements, and is not utilized to cause those elements to oscillate in the manner of a swimming fish.
It would be desirable therefore, to have available a fishing lure with a solid, fish-like body (such as a crankbait) that oscillates in substantially the same manner as a swimming fish, thereby serving to better lure real fish into biting.
It would further be desirable, to impart this oscillating (swimming) motion to the crankbait using a readily available modular element attaching directly to the crankbait.
It would further be desirable to make more effective use of the motion generated by a spinner, so as to impart such a swimming motion to the associated crankbait.
The invention disclosed herein improves the prior art in a novel and non-obvious manner, utilizing the spinning motion of a standard, modular spinner, to impart extra action to a crankbait or similar body component, thereby making the crankbait oscillate so as to look substantially like a live, swimming fish.
In particular, a standard spinner module is attached to the crankbait in place of the front hook, in substantially the same location that the front hook is ordinarily attached for the two-hook configurations earlier described. The rear hook is attached to the crankbait in its usual place. In contrast to the spindle/spinner/hook configurations earlier described, rather than being attached to a spindle (which may or may not have intervening components), both the spinner and the hook are directly attached to the crankbait.
As a result of this novel combination of commonly-available fishing elements, the spinner causes the crankbait to oscillate in a manner closely resembling a swimming fish, in addition to attracting fish in its own right by virtue of its own spinning motion. That is, this invention takes advantage of the spinning motion of the spinner not only in its own right, but also to impart a realistic swimming motion a crankbait or similar body member. The result is that fish are lured and caught much more effectively.